To honor Byrd’s memory, Executive Film Producer Ricky Jason is debuting for a limited time a free special screening of the documentary “Byrd: The Life and Tragic Death of James Byrd Jr.”, available on YouTube.

“We do this because it is important that we do not forget this tragedy,” Jason said. “It placed us at the forefront in the fight for justice and defines our reason for never giving up in the fight against hatred and motivates us to hold our ground on the demands for justice and peace for all who fall victim to this kind of senseless violence.”

Jason said that he is using YouTube as a visual platform to present the documentary so people can see and understand firsthand what happened to James Byrd Jr. He also added that it is his hope that his efforts will help prevent this type of hatred from being passed on to future generations.

On June 7, 1998, Byrd accepted a ride from 3 men named Shawn Allen Berry, Lawrence Russel Brewer, and John William King. Instead of taking him home, the three men beat Byrd behind a convenience store, tied him to their pickup truck with a chain tied around his waist, and dragged him about three miles. Brewer and King were sentenced to death and Berry received life in prison for their parts in James Byrd Jr’s murder. Brewer has since been executed by the State of Texas in 2011.

Jason added that Byrd’s case was only the tip of the iceberg and should have warned America that ills of hatred and racism were festering just under noses of American communities.

Since Byrd’s death, numerous acts of violence against African American males and females have been reported and many are making headlines on a daily basis.

“From Trayvon Martin to Tamir Rice cases and incidents from Ferguson Missouri, Flint, Mich. to Long Island, N.Y., we have seen the trends that continue to demonstrate racially motivated crimes against African-Americans are a real problem,” he said. “Violence against Blacks is all to common and continues to increase because it appears that Black Lives mean little to the Police, the justice system or others who feel like its open season on us.”

The documentary features interviews from Dick Gregory, Martin Luther King III, Susan Sarandon, Sis. Helen Prejean, Maxine Waters, and others and has won critical acclaim and numerous awards across the country.

“My hope is that the film will create and start the kind of positive dialog needed across the board that will end these types of attacks,” Jason said. “Racism and hatred are a cancer on America that is killing us. Until we face it and resolve these differences, we are only making things worse for all of us.”

For more information about the documentary contact Ricky Jason at 409.543.5737.

HOUSTON (FinalCall.com) – It was June 7 a decade ago that James Byrd, Jr. was tied to the back of a truck and dragged to his death in the east Texas town of Jasper. The incident sparked coast to coast outrage and 10 years later during national commemorative events the question being posed: How much has racism in America changed?

â€œI donâ€™t see any progress made 10 years since the murder of my brother,â€ said Clara Byrd Taylor to The Final Call. â€œThe present climate and atmosphere in this country is such that this can happen again and again. Racism is still everywhere.â€

In l998, Mr. Byrd was murdered by three White men when they dragged him three miles to his death in the outskirts of the small town. This incident is known as one of the worst hate crimes in American history. Three suspects were convicted of the crime, which marked the first time in Texas history that White men were convicted of murdering a Black man. Today, two of the convicted murderers are on death row, while the third is serving a life sentence.

â€œThese killers have shown no remorse at all and if the death penalty is executed under the law then I would not have any problem with it. My family wants justice,â€ said Mrs. Taylor.

To mark his death, Byrd family members planned to participate in three national tributes. The first event was held June 2 in Houston and the second was slated for June 7 in Jasper, Texas. The third tribute will be held June 22 in San Francisco. Hundreds of local events are scheduled throughout the country.

The Houston event was held at the Cullen Oaks Community Center and was titled â€œNooses, A History of Lynching, From Trees to Trucks.â€ It was sponsored by the Center for Healing Racism in partnership with the Byrd Foundation for Racial Healing, the Byrd family and the James Byrd, Jr. Racism Oral History Project, a project of the Byrd Foundation for Racial Healing.

The presentation involved a discussion on the history of lynching in America and the use of the noose to hang Black people dating back to the early 1900s. â€œWe wanted to show that the pickup truck that was used to drag my brother to his death was a modern day noose. Teaching our young people this history is critical,â€ said Mrs. Taylor, who is president of the Byrd Foundation for Racial Healing.

â€œToday the noose has been used as a prank, but there is nothing funny about it to me. This feeds into the racism in this country,â€ said Mrs. Taylor. â€œOlder generations tend to be settled in their thinking but we have a chance to reach the youth and educate them. We have to fight to put this racism to an end.â€

Speakers at the event included Cherry Steinwender, co-director of the Center for Healing Racism; Michael Ingram, of the Center for Healing Racism; and Lani Silver, director of the James Byrd Jr. Racism Oral History Project. Musician Jimmie Moore performed at the free event and a commemorative march was also held.

Southwest Regional Student Minister Robert Muhammad, of the Nation of Islam, was in attendance at the emotional funeral of Mr. Byrd 10-years-ago and observed that â€œthings have become worse in this country in the last decade. We as a people have become our own worst enemy. These are dangerous times and our people must take heed to the divine guidance of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and become peacemakers in our community. The scriptures read that blessed are the peacemakers.â€

â€œFear, lack of trust and no understanding are at the core of racism,â€ said Pastor Mark Viator of Friendship Church in Beaumont, Texas. â€œWe want to highlight that what these men did was wrong and we need to be agents to stand for righteousness. Stand up against those things that would not line up with Godâ€™s word and his character.â€

The James Byrd, Jr. Racism Oral History Project was launched in the summer of 2000 and has collected approximately 2,500 oral histories on the topic of racism in America. The oral histories serve to remember and honor Mr. Byrd and hope to help Americans improve race relations in their communities. The foundation has helped introduce hate crime legislation in Texas and consults on hate crime legislation nationwide.

On June 20, the Houston PBS news station will broadcast a live panel discussion entitled â€œA Conversation on Race.â€ Panelists will include Robert Muhammad, Police Chief Harold Hurtt, journalist and Pulitzer Prize finalist Tony Freemantle, Rice University sociologist Stephen Klineberg and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas).

Have things changed 10 years after Texas lynching? was last modified: June 22nd, 2015 by BJ Blog Staff

Being just 29-years-old, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated 10 years before I was born. However, as an elementary, middle and high school student, I learned about him once a year through plays, books, lectures and his ever-quoted â€œI Have a Dreamâ€ speech. But like many of my classmates at that time, I did not truly understand Dr. King.

Something happened while I was attending Prairie View A&M University that gave me a deeper understanding of Dr. King, especially the post-â€œI Have a Dreamâ€ Dr. King. The phenomenal thing that happened was that I was introduced to the words of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan on the life of Dr. King. On one of his tapes, I heard him talking about how Dr. King was more than a dreamer because â€œwhen one is dreaming they are still asleep.â€

Minister Farrakhan talked about a wide-awake Dr. King that rallied against the Vietnam War to call on America to take care of its poor at home; a Dr. King that delivered an anti-war speech titled â€œBreaking the Silenceâ€ in 1967; a Dr. King that said, â€œI’m tired of marching for something that should have been mine at birthâ€; a Dr. King that was plotted against by J. Edgar Hooverâ€™s FBI COINTELPRO from 1961 to 1968; the Dr. King that was lied on by the government; the Dr. King that met one-on-one with the Honorable Elijah Muhammad in 1966; the Dr. King that America did not like.

This upset me because I wondered why we were not taught these things in school. And this cycle continues in 2008 with schools force-feeding our young people a watered-down Dr. King by omitting his post-â€œI Have a Dreamâ€ years. â€œCelebratingâ€ Dr. King has even become a lucrative business for corporations and for those today who so-called praise him but never would have been with him post-â€œI Have a Dream.â€

Yet, if Dr. King were here today, his life would be on the line, not because of his efforts to integrate, but because he still would be considered an unsafe Black leader in the eyes of the government. The Bush Regime is prosecuting an unjust war in Iraq right now and, if Dr. King was here today, he would be beating the drum of the anti-war movement and would not be silent.

He would not encourage our young Black men to â€œbe what they could never beâ€ in the military. He would encourage Black men to do for themselves and to stop depending on the government for anything.

Dr. King would have condemned the Katrina response and marched for justice in Jena, Louisiana. And he would want us to honor him, not with parades, floats, songs, dance, plays, speeches, and t-shirts, but by embracing and backing those in our midst today that are taking a stand against injustice.

Dr. King then and now was last modified: June 18th, 2015 by BJ Blog Staff

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1 week agoYesterday afternoon, I had the honor of being the guest speaker at the 2nd official meeting of the newly-formed revolutionary African-American Culture Club ( @aacckf ) on the campus of Klein Forest High School. In my short presentation, we touched on True #BlackHistory , Finding Purpose, Being A Difference Maker, The 5 P’s Of Organizing, and Why Their Generation is The Answer to The Prayers of Our Ancestors. This was followed by my favorite part: Q/A and plans for follow-up action! This growing group inspired me more than they know. Thank you to all of the club officers (Medina, Jessica, Deaven, Kharee) and

7 days agoLINK IN BIO‼️Show your love for a man who has dedicated 64 Years of his life to serving our people and humanity! ⠀ ⠀ Please join the members of the Nation of Islam and our supporters in showing appreciation for the unwavering dedication of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan by Donating to the Annual Saviours’ Day Gift. ⠀ ⠀ Click the link in my bio!! Thank you in advance!! ⠀ ⠀ #Farrakhan#NationOfIslam#SavioursDayGift#ThankYou#Love

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21 hours agoSAVIOURS’ DAY GIFT‼️ Please join the members of the Nation of Islam and our supporters in showing appreciation for the unwavering dedication of the Honorable Minister @LouisFarrakhan by donating to the Annual Saviours’ Day Gift. ⠀ ⠀ Click the link in my bio! Thank you in advance! ⠀ #Farrakhan#NationOfIslam#SavioursDayGift#ThankYou#Love